As I
said I thought would happen last night, The FED didn't move today. They did
create around 70 billion in new money just today alone and sent it into the
banking system. They didn't lower because we already have huge negative real
rates. What they need is new money. Lots of it. It 's coming. A cut right now
would have spooked US dollar holders and potentially caused a problem in the
dollar. So as they did today and have been doing all week, they will be creating
a lot of money and pumping it into the system to reinflate. They have the
freedom to do that now since the attack on commodities.
The market
movements after the announcement were predictably odd in the midst of all of
this market management. Basically, in spite of the fact that the markets were
incorrectly forecasting an 80% probability of a 25bps cut, there was very little
post announcement movement except in the fed funds futures and related interest
rate markets. The USD was rock steady. It looked to me like the FED was
simultaneously covering commodity shorts into a bout of speculative selling in
commodities immediately after the announcement because that new selling very
quickly stabilized....like someone threw a switch. It also looked like they gave
the market a shot of rocket fuel, buying S&P futures.
It could be
that the new expanded powers FED thinks their work in commodities and in the
dollar is done for now. There are indications that the banks are covering shorts
in gold. Regarding energy, the thing to remember is that there is a lot of
vested interest in oil companies. Tanking the oil companies shares has a limit.
That said, there is speculation that the western banking cartel are trying to
bankrupt the mideast and Russia with an oil rout...and they are being pretty
successful with Russia. I'm sure they called on the whole gang to pull money out
as they zapped the energy markets. As I said when this all started, the western
banking cartel would attack Russia economically because they won't play ball. So
Russia is on my avoid list.
Russia's Micex Index Falls Most Ever;
Exchanges Suspend Trading By William Mauldin and Bradley Cook Sept.
16 (Bloomberg) -- Russia's Micex Index plunged a record 17 percent, prompting
the exchange to halt trading, after the cost of borrowing in dollars overnight
more than doubled and oil prices tumbled. Address : <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=arDqI96NrL1Q&refer=europe>
Maybe Vladimer will think twice before flexing his
military muscles or running 911 truth movies on state television in prime time.
Also, surprise surprise....not. It looks like the FED decided to bail
out AIG, a private corporation that isn't even a bank.The automakers and the
airlines are the next to be nationalized I guess. When do we call it fascism?
It's definitely not lassiz faire capitalism. My New Bolsheviks handle is looking
more and more right on all the time.They are simply looting the USA. They are
keeping the profits for themselves and and the losses are socialized...otherwise
known as sticking the taxpayers with it.
I guess it all depends on who
you know. Greenberg is one of the boys. It doesn't matter that he got
indicted for FRAUD and doesn't run the company. Put that in the memory hole.
This is further evidence that the politicians are not the ones in charge. What
is a "conservatorship"? it's a synonym for nationalization but it's easier for
the serfs to digest. Interestingly, the FED isn't asking for permission
either...because they don't need it any more.
Treasury Said to Be
Considering AIG Conservatorship (file under: conservatorship =
nationalization) By Craig Torres and Elizabeth Hester Sept. 16
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury is considering taking over American
International Group Inc. under a conservatorship as one option to address the
insurer's crisis, according to two people briefed on the discussions.
Address : <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a11UW1B8w8uM&refer=home>
So it is quite clear, and things have happened very
quickly. Every financial forum you read on the internet is full of comments from
people who understand. To say they aren't happy about it is an understatement.
They realize that this banking cartel group of thugs has now effectively taken
control of and are looting everyone's lives, present and future right out in the
open. It makes people angry or sick to their stomach. The politicians won't
speak up or they'll be on the front page of the NYT doing something illegal or
perverted...or both.
I exerpted a "man on the street" comment from a
forum. This what the average joe has been able to conclude.You can see this
sentiment echoed everywhere. It's a loss of confidence.
"We never had a free market, but now it's a Joke. The govt now
owns half the houses in th US via Fannie and Freddie. Now they own who knows
how much of the stock market, via their market pumping conducted though selected
financial institutions."-anonymous
The interesting thing is that
this is basically correct. We have a corrupt government, a nationalized
financial system run by criminals, and the taxpayers are all being saddled up
with an ever more unpayable debt to keep it going in the near term while they
loot the USA. They are obviously relying on brute force daily or nearly daily
operations in a variety of markets to manage prices. Its blatant now. All the
traders I communicate with see it. I don't think it takes a lot to see that this
story is not going to have a happy ending. It doesn't even have a happy
middle...it's just perpetually now staying one step ahead of a meltdown. It's
also very frustrating as a trader.
So we all now have a vested interest
in the success of AIG because Mr Greenberg is being bailed out with our tax
dollars, based solely on the decision of the ex head of Goldman Sachs and a
bunch of other shadowy unelected officials who are now the ones in charge. So
now buyers of US Treasuries are also long Freddie and Fannie, AIG, and a host of
other shadowy slimy assets that no one even truly knows what they are. I expect
that when the dust settles, there is going to be a lot of rethinking among
foreign governments in owning treasuries, because you really own a lot of junk
and liabilities and you can't even quantify it. Put it this
way, if China keeps it's trade surplus in dollars, they are complete fools (as
Paulson and company expect them to be).
Welcome To The Jungle By: Theodore Butler 16 September, 2008 Financial developments are
occurring so quickly that last week's "warp speed" comment seems slow. These are
truly unprecedented times. I think it's safe to say that no one alive has any
experience with the ramifications of the unfolding events. The financial turmoil
is radically altering how everyone looks at his or her assets. In a real sense,
we seem to be in a fight for financial survival. One misstep and a lifetime of
asset accumulation can vanish. Address : <http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1221588694.php>
I saw a headline go by today that Dodd said "the FED
should discuss bailouts with congress" HA. Why? I guess the irrelevancy of the
politicians is causing some ego problems. They will discuss it...to tell you
what they've done. If you squawk about it, they'll have their shareholders and
affiliates find your replacement as they pass some pictures with you getting
busy with the pages. For people like myself who have now been around a while,
the US is not recognizable any more. It's something else.It is something very
corrupt and very dangerous.
The US financial system now resembles a
back room all night craps table run by criminals. Seriously. The markets
have become a non transparent roulette wheel and they always win because they
are the house. Shady deals are struck by unelected officials on the
weekends....they are looting the country left and right and apparently no one
even cares. I shouldn't say that. The people who understand do care, but they
are absolutely powerless to do anything about it. They are taking all the money,
right in front of everyone. They are also leaving a lot of foreign governments
holding empty bags.
JPMorgan Gave Lehman $138 Billion After
Bankruptcy (file under: read the details because you paid for it) By
Tiffany Kary and Chris Scinta Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc. was given $138 billion this week in Federal Reserve-backed
JPMorgan Chase & Co. advances to settle Lehman trades and keep financial
markets stable amid the biggest bankruptcy in history, according to a court
filing. Address : <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aX7mhYCHmVf8&refer=home>
Merrill's Thain, Aides May Get $200 Million for
Year (file under: looting the USA) By Jonathan Keehner and Bradley Keoun
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive Officer
John Thain and two former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. colleagues he recruited may
reap almost $200 million for their year running Merrill if they leave or are
given lesser roles after Bank of America Corp. buys the brokerage. Address : <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aKXe2Xgflk4c&refer=home>
Reserve Primary Money Fund Falls Below $1 a Share
(file under: looting the investors) By Christopher Condon Sept. 16
(Bloomberg) -- Reserve Primary Fund, a money- market mutual fund with $64.8
billion in assets as of Aug. 31, fell below $1 a share in net asset value
because of losses on debt issued by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Investor
redemptions will be delayed as long as seven days, the fund's owner, Reserve
Management Corp., said today in a statement. Withdrawals requested before 3 p.m.
New York time today will be paid at $1 a share. Address : <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_b7JdUfOkBs&refer=home>
Below, the energy futures markets continue to depart
from reality. It looks like what I was saying tongue in cheek is going to become
our new reality. We may have 70's style gas lines and gas rationing at pumps
while....gasoline futures prices are going down in flames???? Why would
anyone want to be short gasoline futures in the face of shortages and rationing?
Who would take that position? The back room craps game hosts would. This
departure of spot futures prices from physical prices is hard evidence of market
manipulation. It even undermines the supposed reason the markets are going down
in the first place...lack of demand and shortages are mutually exclusive events.
Ex-oil chief warns of need for gas rationing David M. Dickson
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 One of the oil industry's most influential
voices called Monday for a temporary 1970s-style rationing of gasoline in parts
of the United States to help avoid hurricane-related shortages and declared that
the Bush administration, the Congress and the two men running for president have
failed to exhibit the courage needed to solve America's longer-term energy
problems. Address : <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/16/former-oil-chief-warns-of-need-for-gas-rationing/>
Below, currently gasoline futures prices imply gasoline
pump prices of $3.30. There is no place in the US where gas is selling for that
price, and for the vast majority of the US, the prices are far higher than that.
It's now over $4.00 here, almost as high as it was when crude was $150.
and everyone sees the manipulation in stock index futures
as they try to "save the system"....
WALL STREET'S STORMY WEEK By JOHN CRUDELE September 16, 2008 IT could have been worse. In
fact, it should have been an utter disaster. The Dow Jones industrial average
lost more than 500 points yesterday and it's difficult to find the bright side
of that. But with the financial system coming under enormous stress this past
weekend - and with big stock market losses already commonplace - a lot of people
on Wall Street were probably sighing with relief that yesterday wasn't the
Armageddon many feared. There are so many story lines here that it's hard to
know where to start, so I'll begin at 7 a.m. yesterday.That's when, despite
sharp declines in stock futures markets overnight, someone in New York
vigorously and valiantly began buying Standard & Poor's futures contracts.
Address : <http://www.nypost.com/seven/09162008/business/wall_streets_stormy_week_129333.htm>
British Foreign Secretary says he is not a
'f****** lunatic' (file under: wearing shoes that fit or f*** lunatics)
Front page / World / Europe 16.09.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband
said in an interview with the BBC Monday that the head of the Russian Foreign
Ministry, Sergei Lavrov, did not swear at him in a telephone conversation, RIA
Novosti reports. Answering a question of whether Lavrov used dirty language in a
conversation with him, Miliband said that it was not quite correct. "It is not
true that he called me a "f****** lunatic," the head of the British
Foreign Office said. Address : <http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/16-09-2008/106369-british_foreign_secretary-0>
>Russia laughs at NATO's face Front page /
Russia / Politics 16.09.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru
"When I was talking about the role, which NATO, particularly the USA, played
during the conflict in the Caucasus, the US ambassador stormed out of the room,"
the Russian ambassador to NATO said. Speaking about the initiative of the
international investigation, Rogozin said: "When NATO refuses to answer the
question of who attacked whom, although the answer is obvious, there is no need
to speak about this investigation as independent. Who is going to be an
independent investigator? Condoleezza Rice?" Address : <http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/106368-1/>
The Social Imperative of Sound Money by
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. This past week, the government announced that it
would take Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the mortgage giants, under
conservatorship, which is a nice way of saying that they will be nationalized.
We don't use the word nationalize any more. We can try an experiment and read
the new term "conservatorship" back into history. In fact, we might say that
Stalin and Lenin put Russia's industries under a kind of conservatorship. Or we
might say that Mao pushed a kind of land conservatorship, or that Hitler's
policy was one of national conservatorship. ...This sort of thing makes a
mockery of the Constitution and the very idea of freedom and the free market, to
say nothing of the idea that we have a limited government. What's more, if we
can believe press reports, President Bush had very little to do with the
decision. It was the work of Henry Paulson, the secretary of the Treasury and
former head of Goldman Sachs, working on behalf of the nation's most
well-connected financial elites. Nobody elected this guy. Most Americans don't
even know his name. Address : <http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/imperative-sound-money.html>
America 's Financial Apocalypse Heralds Decade Long
Depression Economics / US Economy Sep 14, 2008 - 04:28 AM By:
Mike_Stathis Economics Despite attempts made by Greenspan and Bernanke,
there is no way to avert the payback period that has been building for over two
decades. Over this stretch, America has consumed much more than it has produced.
As a result, both consumer and federal debt have ballooned to record levels. And
now, the payback period is upon us. The bailout buffet won't end with Fannie and
Freddie. There's a lot more where that came from because the "Fed's food court"
remains open, as does that of the U.S. Treasury. In fact, the autos are in the
process of being bailed out with $50 billion in "loans." I expect the airlines
to also receive some form of a bailout as well. Washington 's Three Stooges
Address : <http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6256.html>
Where Was Lehman's Board? Posted by Dennis
K. Berman Nine of them are retired. Four of them are over 75 years old. One
is a theater producer, another a former Navy admiral. Only two have direct
experience in the financial-services industry.Meet the Lehman Brothers Holdings
Inc. external board directors, a group of 10 people who, perhaps unknowingly,
carried the health of the world's financial system on their shoulders the past
18 months. Address : <http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/09/15/where-was-lehmans-board/>
Banks make their own liquidity a priority By
Michael Mackenzie in New York and David Oakley in London September 16 2008
20:36 | Last updated: September 16 2008 20:36 Turmoil intensified across
global money markets on Tuesday as banks stockpiled their holdings of cash and
refused to lend to each other, prompting a surge in borrowing rates. Address
: <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/20d62052-8424-11dd-bf00-000077b07658.html>
Sagging gold prices threaten high-cost mines Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:38pm EDT By Cameron French - Analysis TORONTO
(Reuters) - A decision by top-tier gold producer Goldcorp (G.TO: Quote,
Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to shut one of its higher-cost mines may just be
the first of other similar announcements, as miners struggle with gold prices
that have dropped more than 20 percent in just a month. Gold miners typically
will say they don't alter their operations due to short-term commodity price
fluctuations. But facing a weakening price picture, Goldcorp said it will halt
mining at its small Pamour mine in northern Ontario. While gold's price is still
up year-on-year, soaring mining costs have narrowed margins and have raised
expectations that more lower-grade mines could also go quiet. "The pullback in
the gold prices has made everybody look at their operations," said John Ing,
president of Toronto investment dealer Maison Placements. Address :
<http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1529367520080915?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=reutersEdge&rpc=401>
The Law of Supply and Demand Is Dead for Gold and
Silver by: J. S. Kim posted on: September 15, 2008 | about stocks: GLD /
SLV I'm going to preface this article by warning you that
this is one of the longest and most important articles I have scripted in many
months. During the recent gold and silver correction that began on July 14, 2008
and which perfectly coincided with the miraculous surge higher in the U.S.
dollar, there was a massive story unfolding that should have been a lead story
in every financial magazine, newspaper and website. Yet the media responded with
silence. The story was so big, as a matter of fact, that every economics
textbook should now have to remove the Law of Supply and Demand from their pages
because if free markets still exist, the recent behavior in gold and silver
markets strongly obliterates it. Address : <>